Annie Lennox Makes HIV/AIDS a Fashion Statement in Style Files

November 12, 2014 2:36 PM

Annie Lennox does not care about fashion, but she does care about style. And, as she reveals in this episode of Radio.com’s Style Files, she will happily use clothing and fashion to make the world a better place.

Lennox is known for wearing t-shirts that say “HIV Positive” on them—she’s been donning them for years as a means of removing the stigma of admitting one’s status, which she says has been important to express in developing nations who are absolutely ravaged by HIV and AIDS.

“There’s something about wearing that t-shirt that makes that statement and says, ‘It’s okay if you’re HIV positive. You don’t have to be a pariah,'” Lennox explains. “And also that t-shirt was used as a campaigning tool in South Africa, constantly. The activists would go out and protest openly, and everybody would wear an HIV t-shirt, whether they were HIV positive or not.”

Her t-shirt activism is part of her work with the SING Campaign, which she founded in 2007, to help prevent the spread of HIV in South Africa and supports those currently living with HIV. It’s also solidly in line with her personal fashion philosophy, in which the most important factors are comfort and affordability.